Isabel's restaurant, London
Relatively new and from restaurateur Juan Santa Cruz, the owner of Casa Cruz restaurant in Notting Hill, has come to shake the food scene in Mayfair. It is, justifiably, the new hot spot, “stealing” the spotlight from places like Sexy Fish and Chiltern Firehouse. With a modern, warming décor, luxurious toilets, top notch service and succulent dishes it’s always fully booked and even the bar, which is larger than the one in Casa Cruz and with stools, is an after-hours hotspot for the trendy crowd.
The décor and menu has similarities to Casa Cruz but it is unique too. If you wish to go, do book quite in advance. There is a great wine and cocktail list as well.
All dishes are small and meant for sharing. Wanna get the scoop on the best dishes? Well here we go: for snacks try the grilled baby peppers and/or the jamon iberico. For starters the pizzette, is small and succumbing (I tried the prosciutto, olives, tallegio one), the sweetcorn salad and, if you have space, the raw scallops with tiger’s milk or the raw tuna with avocado and wasabi. Also, you can try the burrata with roast tomatoes or the roast baby beetroots with horseradish. Definitely try one pasta dish like the casareccia or pumpkin ravioli or beef short rib ravioli with black truffle if you feel adventurous.
For mains definitely go for meat, as its their speciality (if you aren’t vegetarian of course). Most famous being the aji chicken and grilled picanha. The picanha is large (500gr), but can serve two hungry people easily - as always is my case- but there is fillet or short rib for small parties. As sides the sweet potatoes and spiced corn are the best.
Unfortunately for you I was too full to try a dessert, but the dulce de leche fondant with ice cream and chocolate gateau passing around looked quite tasty
One of the have too’s in London food scene for sure!
26 ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON W1S 4HY